In the mid-1990s, the Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome was realigned and decommissioned.

Fast forward a few decades and the former base is now the Griffiss Business and Technology Park.

"There's no other Air Force base, I don't think anywhere in the country, that looks like this," said Rome Mayor Jackie Izzo.

Mixed in with the many businesses at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park are some government facilities.

The impacts of the research being done in those facilities is far-reaching — a source of pride for Rome's mayor.

"I think that anyone that walks into the lab for the first time and hears some of the presentations on the work that's being done is pretty much overwhelmed," Izzo said.

U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney hosted fellow Republican Rep. John Katko for a tour of the Air Force Research Laboratory and Innovare Advancement Center on Monday.

The Rome Lab was recently designated as the Quantum Information Science Research Center for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.

"Everything that's going on is amazing, and it's going to give us the chance to combat the enemy of the future in dealing with the drone technology and deal with dismantling drones and keeping the bad actors out," Tenney said.

Katko is serving as ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He believes cybersecurity and drone research are critical.

"This is imperative for homeland security going forward, and it's imperative for the defense of our nation going forward because, like Claudia said, wars are going to be fought in the future and conflicts are going to happen in the future and they're not all going to be on the battlefield," said Katko. "That's for sure."

A security fence around Rome Lab is still being constructed.

Tenney also announced that 100 new jobs have been filled since April at the Defense Finance and Accounting Services in Rome.